Urban warfare training drills are taking
place across the country as top analysts as well as officials predict
a potential "summer of rage" across Europe and America as
civil unrest from the economic fallout builds.

Military choppers hovered precariously low over parking lots
as citizens were acclimated to seeing active duty military assets engaged
in law enforcement style activities.

Watch a clip filmed by a startled Richmond
resident who wasn't even aware that Marines were conducting drills due
to scant forewarning on behalf of authorities and the media.

Are such drills really for the purpose
of preparing troops for foreign combat zones? Undoubtedly - but other
factors indicate that the drills may very well also be aimed at preparing
troops for dealing with mass civil unrest as the economic crisis worsens.

There's no question that U.S. authorities
have been closely observing riots that have toppled governments in Iceland
and Latvia and also threatened to do so in several other European countries.
The fact that they have contingency plans in place to deal with such
scenarios should they unfold in America cannot be disputed.

In addition, with many predicting that
Mexico is on the verge of collapse as a result of the economic crisis
and the out of control drug war, Texas
officials have already established contingency plans to deal with
an influx of immigrants, a program that would only address "law
enforcement concerns" and not humanitarian needs.

The U.S. Army War College in November
released a white paper called Known
Unknowns: Unconventional ‘Strategic Shocks’ in Defense Strategy
Development. The report warned that the military must be prepared
for a “violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States,”
which could be provoked by “unforeseen economic collapse,”
“purposeful domestic resistance,” “pervasive public
health emergencies” or “loss of functioning political and
legal order.” The “widespread civil violence,” the
document said, “would force the defense establishment to reorient
priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security.”

Numerous
other public figures, including Senator Christopher Dodd, leading
economist Nouriel Roubini, top trend researcher Gerald Celente, the
head of the International Monetary Fund, the head of the World Trade
Organization, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, former national
security director Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Director of National Intelligence
Dennis C. Blair have all warned of coming civil unrest and global instability.

Considering the expectancy for riots,
it would be naive to dismiss the notion that the increasing amount of
urban warfare drills taking place across the U.S. are not at least partially
to prepare troops to undertake law enforcement duties should civil unrest
as a consequence of the economic fallout threaten a collapse in social
order.